Topical Luncheons
1215–1345, Thursday, 7 May
Rooms 202, 204, 206, or 300, Reliant Center, Level 2 – rooms to be determined on-site.
Purchase tickets to these events.
Oil Future: Wall Street vs. Main Stream
Dan Pickering, Co-President, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Company Securities
The energy business is characterized by long-lead projects requiring in-depth technical analysis, intensive project management, and detailed financial/economic modeling. It also requires significant amounts of capital and equal parts hope, faith, and guts. Introducing the public markets into the equation adds even more variables for the industry to consider.
This presentation will address the interrelationship of Wall Street and the energy business and the influences that capital markets play on commodity pricing, investment decisions, and corporate strategy. Does the market send the right signals? Should energy companies pay attention to stock prices? Is the existence of an oil and gas futures market a blessing or a curse?
Additionally, the presentation will examine the current supply and demand dynamics of oil and gas and how they are reflected in the spot market, the financial markets, and in the long-term planning processes of the industry. Both historical trends and future issues will be examined, as well as the implications of high oil prices on energy demand, economic growth, and the development of alternative fuels and technologies.
New Concepts for Sea-Going Compressed Natural Gas
Xiuli Wang, Vice President and CTO, XGAS
Transnational natural gas transport will take an increasing share of marine energy transportation.
Already, liquefied natural gas (LNG) approaches about 30% of all natural gas trade. In our review of world stranded natural gas resources, at least 50% would not be appropriate for LNG or pipeline. Adding LNG and pipeline capacity is expensive and takes many years.
An alternative to LNG and pipelines is compressed natural gas (CNG) technology, which offers an economically-attractive way for many locations to deliver commercial quantities of natural gas by ship to customers within 2,500 kilometers. CNG is compressed and sometimes chilled—but not liquefied—at pressures of 1,500 to 3,000 psi (100 to 200 atm). CNG ships are in effect “floating pipelines.” The onshore facilities required for loading and offloading from CNG transport are minimal compared to LNG.
This presentation outlines the most recent CNG concepts and offers their applicability, including barge-mounted designs and “distributed” CNG ideas.
Managing Energy Technology for the 21st Century
Melody Meyer, President, Chevron Energy Technology Company
Sponsored by 
Picture the perfect energy future, a balance of abundant supplies from multiple sources, from renewable to conventional—clean, secure, available, and affordable for all.
To achieve this vision of energy security, we need to invest in every kind of energy, encompassing conventional, unconventional, alternatives, and renewables, plus make a big new push in energy efficiency.
Chevron invests much time and energy to advance energy technologies, ensuring that technical efforts are closely tied to business needs, both to drive new projects and for greater reliability and efficiency in current operations.
But technology itself is only half the challenge today. The other half is managing the technology effectively. As energy developments become more complex and more costly, we need more technology per barrel to make them viable. We need everything to be more efficient and reliable within highly complex systems, and we need to address opportunities globally.
One of the biggest issues in technology management is the need for a stronger focus on integration—a “wells to wheels” perspective. Chevron incorporates all of their technology services into one organization to help them find new research and development opportunities and deploy technology solutions faster.
